Okay, now I am confused. I thought these things talked to the head end over the cable (not the CAT6, the RG-6).

You're right about the tuning adapter. The TiVo, however, uses the internet to get program schedule information from the TiVo servers. Cutting that off for a couple of days also lets GC complete. -- Doug

You're right about the tuning adapter. The TiVo, however, uses the internet to get program schedule information from the TiVo servers. Cutting that off for a couple of days also lets GC complete. -- Doug

So the TiVo's like a little kid.

The only way to get it to do what it's supposed to is to remove all other distractions.

You're right about the tuning adapter. The TiVo, however, uses the internet to get program schedule information from the TiVo servers. Cutting that off for a couple of days also lets GC complete. -- Doug

Yes and no. On SOME TiVos, disconnecting the internet for 2 days will do the trick. GC happens, and the thing works again. However, on my TiVo, this trick hasn't worked for several months now. I have to disconnect the tuning adapter to make GC happen.

Yes and no. On SOME TiVos, disconnecting the internet for 2 days will do the trick. GC happens, and the thing works again. However, on my TiVo, this trick hasn't worked for several months now.
I've been doing it weekly.

Roger that, as my TiVo was responding to internet disconnection for a couple of months, then stopped.

Blocking/Disconnecting the internet:
Garbage collection can run for more than 24 hours because it doesn't get killed by daily call. (If connectivity is available during daily call dbgc is told to stop (and fail) so daily call can proceed)

Cons:
- Garbage collection is still running extremely slow, just has more time to complete
- In my case this approach needed 5+ days to complete
- I never saw suggestions getting scheduled with this method (too slow to get to that part)
- Missing last minute guide updates
Pro:
- You don't get interrupted recordings like second alternative

Powering down Tuning Adapter:
For this to work, you have to split coax cable with a splitter and feed coax directly to both Tuning Adapter and Tivo (There is no need to connect Output of Tuning adapter to Tivo's cable input)
Use an outlet timer to cut power to Tuning adapter. I have mine set to cut power between 12:02 AM until 4:56AM

Cons:
- You are greeted with Blue Tuning Adapter connected screen every morning when you turn on your TV
- Any recording taking place at the time you cut power to TA will get interrupted (this is probably 90% true, I think analog cable still records)
- Any recording taking place when Tuning Adapter finishes booting up and Tivo connects to it will get stopped.
- If you use timer without battery back up you can have issues during a power outage (timer goes on/off at wrong time)

Pros:
- Garbage collection will complete almost daily (I have about 80-90% success rate, turning off TA for an extra hour would probably fix this)
- Suggestions started scheduling again
- You get daily guide updates

I have 2 of my 3 Tivos set up with timers and as I mentioned I get a GC update almost daily. I am not very worried about interrupted recordings, everything on at that time is usually a repeat. I can live with this until Tivo fixes this issue (remember next update is on 12th of never)

Last edited by trackie999; 11-23-2011 at 01:27 PM.
Reason: Added Amazon link to timer I use

Who here among us, with the guide data running out problem, has their TiVo hard wired to the internet?

I realize I'm coming to this party late, but I've had this problem for two years or more. I had assumed it was caused by my upgraded HDD (and warned my parents that they might have to deal with this before they upgraded the HDD in their TivoHD) but come to think of it, they don't have a TA and have never had the problem, and I venture to say that my problems started with TWC Cleveland switched to SDV and gave me my TA.

Also interestingly, the last time my TivoHD did a GC was on 10/31; I remember that night for obvious reasons, and I ended up being on the phone with TWC because of TA issues, which was offline for several hours that evening (by several I mean > 24).

I've never called Tivo for support because I assumed I was unsupportable due to the HDD upgrade.

To your question -- my TivoHD has hard-wired Ethernet.

I'm jumping into this thread now because the problem appears to be escalating for me; i.e., I've always managed with just weekly reboots, but I am getting the dreaded S03 message now, which I believe is the first time for me. I forced a manual connection and it got to over 50% on the last step before I stopped checking the status, but it failed before completing.

I guess I'll try turning off my TA and forcing another manual connection, but if that fails I gather my best options is to clear & delete... Which I did this summer and am not looking forward to again.

As an aside, I have to say I'm pretty close to giving up on Tivo. I have a (Sony) BluRay player with a nice Netflix interface (nicer than Tivo's, IMO) and it streams music & videos from my PC. Add these issues and I don't know what I'm paying Tivo for any more. I do love the interface, but I'm not feeling that it's worth the $15/mo (or whatever) I'm paying the, plus the pain of having an extra box (TA) in my cabinet (which runs HOT).

...Just waiting for SNL to end and then I'm going to try to get my Tivo working again.

I guess I'll try turning off my TA and forcing another manual connection, but if that fails I gather my best options is to clear & delete... Which I did this summer and am not looking forward to again.

No, your next action should be the "channel lineup fix" which is far less destructive than a clear&delete.

No, your next action should be the "channel lineup fix" which is far less destructive than a clear&delete.

Thanks. I realized that after I posted that message. The channel lineup fix worked fine -- GC completed around 4:30 AM last night. It's still indexing the new guide data.

Two questions:

- To those with their TA on a timer... Often, why I power-down my TA it "gets out of sync" with the Tivo, and I find that I end up having to reboot them both. Is this not a symptom you also suffer from? I am reminded by this because, as a precaution, I unplugged my TA before initiating the lineup fix above, and I had to reboot the Tivo to get it to "talk to" the TA.

- How often does GC need to run? With the "sync" problem in mind, I'm more inclined to make unplugging the TA a weekly ritual, say, Friday night, so that I will be around to manually kick things if needed. Otherwise I'd be left with an unhappy family.

- To those with their TA on a timer... Often, why I power-down my TA it "gets out of sync" with the Tivo, and I find that I end up having to reboot them both. Is this not a symptom you also suffer from?

I have never seen this problem with my setup. Though now that I read it here, it's probably the next problem my TiVo will develope.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdbundy

- How often does GC need to run?

Every day would be ideal. My TiVo S1 runs it every day.

GC runs faithfully every other day on my setup. T/A is switched off with lamp timer for 4 hours every morning....

After having completed the "lineup fix," I'm not sure if I should be concerned. More than 12 hours after the fix and after a manual reboot and forced connection to Tivo, none of my season passes beyond EOD Monday are scheduled. I'm a little surprised none of the additional scheduling has taken place, i.e., I expected it to "trickle in" over the course of the day. When I try to find programs by name they don't show up in the results, even though they are in my guide if I navigate to future days.

To answer my own question: A bit before midnight last night I still didn't have anything in my To Do list more than 24 hours away, so I decided to unplug my TA. It looks like GC completed around 1:00 AM and my To-Do list is now full. I'm not sure if this is at all related to the TA but all seems to be fine now. I guess it's time for me to put my TA on a timer as was suggested here.

Long story short, which I have been meaning to post it for some time: Tivo HD, 1TB upgrade. Worked great for 20 months in Los Angeles, no tuning adapter. Moved to San Diego, tuning adapter, immediate failure of GC, one week after I moved I was out of program data. Performed the fixes that did not involve unplugging the tuning adapter until the unit got stuck in an infinite loop at S03. Bollocks.

The next part of my story, well, no one here is going to like what I have to say: I did what a normal person would do, I restored my Tivo back to the original 160 GB drive (I'd never even booted the thing with that drive, I upgraded it the day I got it). Lo and behold, for 3 weeks I had no issues whatsoever. It was pathetic, a whopping 20 hours of HD, but the unit was full of shows and season passes and working great.

Next, I went out and bought the "official WD external 1TB eSata drive" for $100. A new esata cable later (some sort of well-known issue, the one they give you just won't work) and I now have a Tivo HD with more capacity than my original that GCs every night and is full of season passes and data.

So, I know there is one guy here who does nothing but say "my stock tivo, it does this, tivo sucks!!!." I don't buy it -- my "stock, factory approved" tivo works great. It GCs every night - I check - and has updated program information. It infuriates me that there is clearly something simple wrong, and I am sure tivo could fix it. But I cannot deny that i now have a functional tivo, slightly more storage than before, and the thing just works. As it did before I ended up in tuning adapter land.

I have also had no issues so far, cable notwithstanding, with the external drive. I don't like it, but it appears to work fine.

So to the guy who says "my stock tivo just won't work," send it back to tivo and get it repaired. I just don't believe you. Mine works great with the original equipment and not upgraded. Which I hate, but is the truth. Add option #3 to all your lists: put back the original drive, stop power-cycling the tuning adapter, and use the esata upgrade.

Long story short, which I have been meaning to post it for some time: Tivo HD, 1TB upgrade. Worked great for 20 months in Los Angeles, no tuning adapter. Moved to San Diego, tuning adapter, immediate failure of GC, one week after I moved I was out of program data. Performed the fixes that did not involve unplugging the tuning adapter until the unit got stuck in an infinite loop at S03. Bollocks.

The next part of my story, well, no one here is going to like what I have to say: I did what a normal person would do, I restored my Tivo back to the original 160 GB drive (I'd never even booted the thing with that drive, I upgraded it the day I got it). Lo and behold, for 3 weeks I had no issues whatsoever. It was pathetic, a whopping 20 hours of HD, but the unit was full of shows and season passes and working great.

Next, I went out and bought the "official WD external 1TB eSata drive" for $100. A new esata cable later (some sort of well-known issue, the one they give you just won't work) and I now have a Tivo HD with more capacity than my original that GCs every night and is full of season passes and data.

So, I know there is one guy here who does nothing but say "my stock tivo, it does this, tivo sucks!!!." I don't buy it -- my "stock, factory approved" tivo works great. It GCs every night - I check - and has updated program information. It infuriates me that there is clearly something simple wrong, and I am sure tivo could fix it. But I cannot deny that i now have a functional tivo, slightly more storage than before, and the thing just works. As it did before I ended up in tuning adapter land.

I have also had no issues so far, cable notwithstanding, with the external drive. I don't like it, but it appears to work fine.

So to the guy who says "my stock tivo just won't work," send it back to tivo and get it repaired. I just don't believe you. Mine works great with the original equipment and not upgraded. Which I hate, but is the truth. Add option #3 to all your lists: put back the original drive, stop power-cycling the tuning adapter, and use the esata upgrade.

When you upgraded to the internal 1TB, what size did you make the swap partition?

A week ago, I took my TA off the timer just to see what would happen. Since then, I've had three spontaneous GCs with the most recent this morning. The guide cache and indexing are all updating fine. So, until things start to go bad, I'm going to leave the TA off the timer. -- Doug

It seems when i unplug my tuning adapter's power, the tivo will connect but updates to program data are not seen soon after. I still have to reboot the tivo for it to be updated. And it usually freezes so I have to unplug the tivo. I have abanded this method. I have a 1TB (instant cake) internal and the tivo certified 1TB external married to it.
I switched to my usb wireless a couple of days ago and it connected by itself without errors. But I still had to reboot for the tivo to recognize the updated program data. Lately plugged into ethernet, i have been getting failed to connect so I switched to wireless.
My tivo totally freaks out if I unplug the TA power or USB cable. Sometimes it freezes, others it never resyncs with the tivo and a reboot of tivo will fix it. Everything gets fixed by a tivo reboot. The one thing that does not is the GC. The last GC was 12-2 when i unplugged my TA power.
This thread has helped me see it's not just my tivo with the issue. Thanks everyone for your experiences and troubleshooting.
-Tom

Getting up to speed on this issue since both of my S3's have had the S03 error. this is a long thread to read..

Does the garbage collection issue happen to Premiers? I checked last night & my premier seems to be able to dump through it's TA.

In my blundering to fix the problem I did re-run guided set up- apparently after I had forced a GC dump since I didn't have the loop problem. I think I did a Clear program info & todo list and a Kickstart 57 prior to re-running guide setup. I'm now getting double folders, as in a pre S03 shows & after S03 error folder for the same show.

I understand the 'unplug the TA' solution. Which other solution, like running KS57 or Clear Program & TD list or clearing the channel list will dump the GC without producing the clear my SP list & re-enter it?

I'm trying to do a dump via button clicks instead of pulling the plug without getting multiple folders of the same show.

I unplugged the TA power last night with my tivo on and not in standby last night. The GC completed this morning. I then plugged in the power and it took tivo about 5 to 10 mins to recognize the TA and now I am back up and running.
Looks like everyone's suggestion worked. Thanks. I will be buying a timer...

I unplugged the TA power last night with my tivo on and not in standby last night. The GC completed this morning. I then plugged in the power and it took tivo about 5 to 10 mins to recognize the TA and now I am back up and running.
Looks like everyone's suggestion worked. Thanks. I will be buying a timer...

-Tom

Interesting twist about your TiVo having problems when t/a is powered down while TiVo is in standby mode.

I always park my S3 TiVo in standby mode, and it has not had the problem your's experienced.

Getting up to speed on this issue since both of my S3's have had the S03 error. this is a long thread to read..

Does the garbage collection issue happen to Premiers? I checked last night & my premier seems to be able to dump through it's TA.

In my blundering to fix the problem I did re-run guided set up- apparently after I had forced a GC dump since I didn't have the loop problem. I think I did a Clear program info & todo list and a Kickstart 57 prior to re-running guide setup. I'm now getting double folders, as in a pre S03 shows & after S03 error folder for the same show.

I understand the 'unplug the TA' solution. Which other solution, like running KS57 or Clear Program & TD list or clearing the channel list will dump the GC without producing the clear my SP list & re-enter it?

I'm trying to do a dump via button clicks instead of pulling the plug without getting multiple folders of the same show.

Can't comment about Premieres. My assumption is that they are O.K. because Tivo is still updating software for them. Doesn't seem to be the case for Series 3.

I also have the double folders because of the S03 error and doing a Clear & Delete. Oh well, others can learn from our mistakes.

I think you basically have 2 options to reliably force a GC and avoid doing a Clear & Delete:

1. Disrupt communications between the tuning adapter and the Tivo for several hours. You can do this automatically with a timer, manually by pushing the power button, or manually by unplugging the USB cable. Whichever suits your fancy.

2. Do the channel fix method, as outlined in earlier posts. I think that is what you allude to in your post. A channel fix can take up to 12 hours or so, but also can be much shorter.

Can't comment about Premieres. My assumption is that they are O.K. because Tivo is still updating software for them. Doesn't seem to be the case for Series 3.

thanks- i checked my premier, it doesn't seem to have the issue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WO312

I also have the double folders because of the S03 error and doing a Clear & Delete. Oh well, others can learn from our mistakes.

Thank you- it is nice to know the 'double folder' is a result of 'clear & delete'! I was not sure what I did that caused the 'double folder' problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WO312

I think you basically have 2 options to reliably force a GC and avoid doing a Clear & Delete:
1. Disrupt communications between the tuning adapter and the Tivo
2. Do the channel fix method, as outlined in earlier posts.

Wonderful, thanks. the problem children (S3's) are in my bedroom & are watched by the kiddo consiquently they record late at night. I have no problems setting the channel fix method once every couple of weeks- obviously I don't mind the nag screen.
I suspect my S3's hadn't done a GC dump in a months prior to the S03 error code.

To avoid getting the "guide data will run out" message, or to get rid of it as long as you're not getting S03 errors: unplug the TA for a few hours, either manually or via a timer.

If you have let things go to the point that you're now getting S03 errors: perform the "channel line-up fix".

Both these solutions will disrupt your viewing and/or recording for a while (the latter for up to 24 hours in extreme cases; don't panic - let it complete), but neither will result in the loss of your existing recordings, SP's, WL's, or settings, nor cause duplicate folders in Now Playing.

If there was some way to put this information at the top of this thread, it would save newcomers a lot of reading.

To avoid getting the "guide data will run out" message, or to get rid of it as long as you're not getting S03 errors: unplug the TA for a few hours, either manually or via a timer.

If you have let things go to the point that you're now getting S03 errors: perform the "channel line-up fix".

Both these solutions will disrupt your viewing and/or recording for a while (the latter for up to 24 hours in extreme cases; don't panic - let it complete), but neither will result in the loss of your existing recordings, SP's, WL's, or settings, nor cause duplicate folders in Now Playing.

If there was some way to put this information at the top of this thread, it would save newcomers a lot of reading.

Not a bad idea.

Looking back, post #1 is from tootal2 !! And he's still contributing. So if he wants to edit his post, that might help some people.

Interrupt the Tivo's communication to the mothership for 48 hours in a row.

That's the method I use and it works like a charm. My TivoHD with issues only has access to the mothership Tuesday, Wednesday & Saturday. The other days of the week, access is blocked. Haven't had a GC issue since.

Interesting twist about your TiVo having problems when t/a is powered down while TiVo is in standby mode.

I always park my S3 TiVo in standby mode, and it has not had the problem your's experienced.

It could be ID 10T error on my wife's part. Keeping it on assures me i can see what tivo is doing. I may go back to ethernet to see if that works too. Anyways, what I found here works, so thanks again everyone for contributing.
-Tom